Picture taken by myself
As we all know nature can be a very cruel mistress, but ever wondered what you would look like if you had to come face to face with one of the big cats of Africa?
There is one guy in Zimbabwe, who I am relatively sure has no more doubts when he himself had a very close encounter with a leopard at Hwange National Park Zimbabwe. When a Leopard catch and release went terribly wrong on 21 September 2021.
In a brave attempt to protect his Family, Taylor ended up fighting off a leopard, and ended up walking away with his life and a few horrible gashes.
One thing is for certain and that is, that Africa is definitely not for the faint of heart.
According to a voice note released by Taylor, there was a company that organised the release of the leopard into the wild, and Taylor and his family came across the scene. The animal ran straight towards the family, and Taylor in fear of his child's life bravely placed himself between his family and the leopard, trying to deter the animal from his family, as a leopard would as a rule go for the smaller or the weak prey. After quite a bit of struggle the animal was finally dicouraged enough to leave the scene - but he certainly left this young man with something to remember it by.
Here are some of the aftermath pictures...
Taylor has a very long road to recovery left. The depth of the cuts as well as the infection count means that these wounds can not be stitched up or closed, and all they can do right now is keep the wounds clean and allow them to close up by them self as time goes by.
The cat was not put down and is free to roam in the wild. So both Taylor and the cat escaped with their lives that day - certainly not an experience I would wish on my worst enemy even.